Monday, December 26, 2016

Redcurrant Meringue Cake


I am fascinated by redcurrants.  They are so pretty, and the perfect decoration for cakes, tarts etc during the festive season.  However, in Australia, redcurrants are not easy to get, and they are very expensive. 

When I saw a recipe for Redcurrant Meringue Torte (Traubelstorte) in Luisa Weiss' Classic German Baking, I knew I had to act quickly and make it, as the only time of year when redcurrants are available is at Christmas.  Luisa says that in Germany, currant canes are practically weeds!  Not so in Australia.

I bought these beautiful redcurrants from the David Jones Food Hall - aren't they beautiful: 


The cake comprises a pastry base, filled with meringue laden with redcurrants  It is crispy on top and fluffy and soft in the middle:


Isn't it gorgeous?  It tasted fabulous too.  However, I highly recommend eating this cake on the day it is made, as the moisture from the redcurrants starts to seep into the meringue after that, making the meringue "weep".

I highly recommend buying Luisa's book.  However, the recipe is also available here on Google books.  I used 375g of redcurrants instead of 500g, which seemed to be plenty to me.   This is mainly because the price of redcurrants is prohibitive, and as it was, I only ought two new punnets of redcurrants and used one punnet that I had frozen last year, thereby keeping down the immediate cost.  However, if redcurrants are plentiful or cheap in your area, this is a fabulous way to highlight them, as they look gorgeous in the white meringue, and their tart flavour offsets the sweetness of the meringue perfectly. 

2 comments:

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

That looks stunning! I have some very expensive reducrrants that I have to figure out what to do with because I don't want to waste any. This sounds perfect!

Kayte said...

Red currants are expensive here as well, and I agree, so pretty and intriguing. Your cake looks beautiful. So we need to eat the whole cake in one day to avoid the red current weeping issue into the meringue??? DONE! lol Beautiful choice.